Ironing-machine.



I. F. WILLEY. momma MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-14.1915. 1,256,280. Patented Feb. 12,1918.

5 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES INVENTOR H RNEYVS I. F. WILLEY.

IRONING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-14.1915.

Patented Feb. 12, 191$.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ATTORNEYS I. F. WILLEY.

|RON ING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 14. 1915.

1,256,280. Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

WITNESSES V Z/ INVENTOR ATTORN EYS I; F. WILLEY.

momma MACHINE.

5 SHEETS-SHEEI' 4- w q ///////J//7//////7//////////1/.//

. APPUCATION FILED SEPT 14 1915 1,256,280. v

INVENTOR WIT-NESSES ATTORNEYS I. F. WILLEY.

IRONING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 14, l9 l5- L256,28. PatentedFeb.12,1918. 5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS WITNESSES ISAAC r. WILLEY, or PHILADELPBIIA,rENNsYLvANIA.

IRONING-MAGHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. '12, 1918.

Application filed September 14, 1915. Serial No. 50,596.

To'all whom. it may) concern:

limited to the precise arrangement and or- Be it known that I, ISAAC F.WILLEY, a ganization of these instrumentalities as citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia, State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Ironing-Machine, of whiching is aspecification. I My invention consists of a novel ironingmachine which is especially adapted forthe ironing of collars. In themachines ordinarily employed for this purpose, it is customary to feedthe collars to the ironing rolls in the direction of their length andowing to-the distance between the axes of the rolls and the manner inwhich the collars are pulled by the operator as they are fed into themachine the original length of a collar is materially increased and theends and buttonholes are lengthened and distorted in such a manner thatthe ironed collar herein shown and described.

Figure 1 represents a top plan view of a N collar ironing machineembodying my inthe followdoes not set properly on the shirtof the thecollars are fed into the machine in such a manner that they arepresented laterally to the ironing rolls with,their entire sur- I faceuncovered. The collars are fed laterally or in parallelism with the axesof the ironing cylinder and roll and the direction of movement of thecollar is in a continuous forward direction.

My invention further consists of a novell manner of yieldingly mountingthe rolls, which cooperate with the main ironing drum so that a uniformtension is placed on such rolls.

It further consists of a novel construction and arrangement of anironing roll and its adjuncts whereby the. amount, of effective surfaceof the ironing roll is largely increased during the ironing operation.

Other novel featuresof construction and advantage will more clearlyhereinafter apvention. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation thereof havingcertain portions broken away for the sake of clearness of illustration.

Fig. 3 represents a sectional elevation of the machine, the sectionbeing taken on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 represents a front elevation of an alining roll for the feedapron.

Fig. 5 represents a sectional elevation of a portion of the machineshowing more clearly certain details of construction, the section beingtaken on line 55'Fig. 1.

Fi 6 represents a sectional elevation showing more clearly details ofconstruction of the feed apron and certain of its adjuncts. I

Fig. 7 represents a sectional elevation of a portion of the machine, thesection being taken on line 77 Fig. 2.

-Fig. 8 represents a sectional view of the means for adjusting one ofthe rolls.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in thefigures. Referring to the drawings: 1 designates the housing or anironing machine, embodying tion, and adapted to be actuate by anydesired type ofdriving mechanism. For convenience of illustration, Ihave shown a motor 2, such as for example an electric or other motor,carried by the housing and having its shaft provided, with a pinion 3,which meshes with a gear 4, mounted on a shaft 5, journaled in themachine framework. The shaft 5 has mounted thereon a pear in thedetailed description of my invention.

For the purpose of illustrating my invention, I have shown theaccompanying drawings one form thereof which is atpresent preferred" byme, since the same will give in practice satisfactory and reliableresults, although it is to be'unde-rstood that .the variousinstrumentalities of which my invention consists can be variouslyarranged and organized and that my invention is not wheel 11, carried bythe first ironing roll 12,

which latter is mounted in journal boxes 13 adjustably carried by thehousing. The! I ironing roll 12 is in frictional engagement with a feedapron 14, which passes around av front roll 15, the ends of which haveloosely mounted thereon the sleeves 16, Fig. 1, the inner ends of whichare provided with the inwardly tapered or cone-shaped spools frameworkof my mvenwhich are in threaded engagement with said journal boxes androtatably carried by the housing in such a manner as to prevent theirlongitudinal movements 20 designates cables wound around the sleeves 16and connected therewith, and

their opposite ends are connected with a support 21, in which isrotatably mounted a roll 22. The support 21 is provided with a stem 23,which is freely rotatable in a bearing 24, which may be verticallyadjusted by means of a screw 25. A set-screw 26 maintains the parts intheir adjusted positions.

27 designates a belt tightening roll which i is'journaled in bracketscarried by the hous- ;ing. The feed apron 14 also passes over a blade'28adjustably carried by the housing of the machine. r

29 designates a roll, which is located out 0f axial alinement withthefirst or upper ironing roll12, and said roll 29 is mounted in journalboxes 30, havingdepending rods 31 guided in apertures in the housing,Figs. 7 and 8; The rods 31 are provided with apertures 32 into whichextends rods 33,

which carry at their lower ends rollers 34. Interposed between shoulderson the rods 33 and the lower ends of the rods 31 are springs '35 whichmaintain said rollers in 35 engagement with cams 36, which are mountedon a cam shaft 37 and may be manually I adjusted by means of thehandle'38 to vary the distance between the lower roll 29 and.

the upper ironing roll- 12. \These rolls 12 40 and 29 are intergeared bymeans of a gear 39 on the shaft of the roll 12 anda' gear 40 on theshaft of theroll 29. The forward portion of the housing is provided witha table 41 which serves as a support for the collars which are to beplacedby the operator on the feed a'pron 14.

' The shaft 8 also has mounted thereon a gear 42, which meshes with agear 43 carried by the main ironing drum or cylinder 44, which ismounted on a: shaft 45, journaled in the bearing boxes. 46. The latterare carried by posts 47 which carry at their lower ends the rollers 48,Figs. 2 and 3, seated on cams 49, on a shaft 50. The shaft 50 has fixedthereto a worm wheel 51, which meshes with a worm 52 carried bya shaft53 journaled in the housing and provided with a lever 54 which isadapted to be manually operated in order to efi'ect the raising orlowering of the main ironing drum '44.

The posts 47 are guided I in the machine framework.

Coiiperating with the ironing cylinder or drum 44 are a plurality ofsets of ironing rolls, any desired number of which may be employed, andfor convenience of illustrationT have shown three sets 55, 56, and 57,respectively, and since each set is constructfed and operated in asimilar manner, I have deemed it unnecessary to describe in detail butone of such sets. See Fig. 5.

58 designates sleeves carried by the housing in any desired manner andprovided ,7

with apertured partitions 59 through which extend the rods 60. The outerends of such rods are provided with nuts 61 in threaded engagementtherewith and contacting with washers 62, between which and thepartitions 59 are interposed the springs 63, and since the washers 62'are adapted to move into the lower chambers of the sleeves -58,

a tension'is placed on the rods 60, which tends to move them inwardlywith respect to the sleeves. Thev rods 60 are in threaded or otherengagement with the stems or posts 64, which are guided in the upperportions of "the sleeves 58 and each post 64 has journaled therein theends of a central ironing roll 65. The posts 64 are recessed at theirupper ends at 66 and 67 to. receive the springs 68 and 69 respectively.70 designates journal brackets pivotally connected at 71 with the upperportions of the posts 64.

72 designates an outer ironing roll journaled in the brackets 70 whichare recessed as at 7 3 in order to receive the springs 68 j which abutagainst plates 74 located in the recesses 73 and carried by rods 75 inthreaded engagement with the bearing, whereby the tension of said;springs 68 maybe varied,

as desired.

76 designates bolts passing freely through apertures 7 7 in the bearingbrackets 70 and in threaded engagementwith fixed portions of the posts64, and the inner ends of such bolts are, provided with lock nuts 78. 79designates a bearing bracket located on the side of each post 64opposite to the bearing bracket 70 and pivotally connected at 80 withthe upper end or head of the post 64. The bearing brackets 79 havejournaled therein an outer ironing roll 81 and are recessed as at 82 toreceive one end of the springs 69, which abut against the plates 83located within such recesses and carried by rods 84 in threadedengagement with the bearing brackets 7 9, whereby the tension of thesprings-69 may be varied, as desired.

85 designates bolts assing freely through the bearing brackets 9 and inthreaded engagement with the upper ends of the posts 64 and providedwith lock nuts 86.

In order to prevent the curling of the collars as they are fed to thefirst roll 72, 1 provide a gravity roll 87, Figs. 1 and 2, the ends ofwhich are free to move vertically in the slotted brackets 88 carried bythehousing of the machine. 89 designates a recelving table carried bythe housing in any desired manner and having one edge terminating inclose proximity to the cylinder 44 and its opposite end is normallyclosed by a pivoted door 90.

91 designates steam conduits by means of I the drum 44. The rolls 72, 65and 81 are,

in practice, preferably covered with pad ding and fabric. The stems 95of the ]011I- nal boxes 13, which carry the ironing roll 12, areslidably mounted in the housing at yan angle to the rods or stems 31. ofthe journal boxes 30 and preferably at substantially right angles toeach other, as shown.

The amountof axial displacement of the f shafts of the rolls 12 and 29may be varied by actuatingzthe adjusting screws 96 and the set screws 94 The operation of my novel ironing machine will now be readily apparentto those skilled in this art and'is as follows Assuming that thevariousparts of the machine are in their properly adjusted positions,the motor 2 is started. This causes the gear 3 to revolve and therebythe gears 4, 6 and 7, which efiect the revolution of the sprocket wheel9 and thereby actuates the sprocket chain 10, which latter impartsrotation to the ironing roll 12. Since the ironin roll 12 is intergearedwith the roll 29 an is in frictional engagement with the belt 14, whichpasses between said ironing rolland the roll 29, a forward feedingmove-' 40 ment is imparted to the feed apron 14. The gear 42 which ismounted on the same shaft 8 on which the sprocket wheel 9 is mounted,meshes with the gear 43 and thereb revolves the drum 44. The collars,after eing 45 washed, are treated with starchin any desired manner andare in condition to be ironed.

The operator arranges the collars to 'be ironed transversely with theirbottom or inner face uppermost'on the apron 14. The

collars are fed by the feed apron beneath the first ironing roll 12 inparallelism with its axis and since this roll is out of axial -aline-.ment with the roll '29, substantially the entire under surface ofthecollar is brought into engagement with the ironing surface of the roll12 and the entire inner surface of the collar is ironed, since itengages with a sufiicient portion of the. periphery of the ironing .roll12.to effect this result. If the roll 29 and the ironing roll 12 werein-axial alinement, substantially only a line contact would be'made withthe collars to be ironed. After the collar passes beyond the ironing 65.roll 12, it travels beneath the gravity roll 87 and-is delivered to theironing cylinder 44 in parallelism with the axis thereof, and thengasses first beneath the ironing roll 72, then eneath the ironing roll65, and then. beneath the ironing roll 81 of the first set of rolls 55in parallelism to their axes. The

collar then passes beneath the subsequent sets of rolls in parallelismto their axes and is stripped from the drum 44 by the juxtaposed edge ofthe receiving table 89 and is discharged on to said table. The collarsare .then passed through a seam dampening machine and then throughamachine which turns the collar down and dries the edge. The collars arethen ready to be sorted and wrapped up for delivery to the owners.

1 provide means to maintain the feed apron 14 in alined position. If theapron 14 rides up on a spool 17 at one side of the machine, the adjacentcable 20 is wound up on the sleeve 16, thereby moving the journaledsupport 21 with which-it is connected, rear wardly, and thus moving theroller 22 on its fulcrum. This causes the feed apron to be returned toits proper position, and as soon as the feed apron disengages' from acone 17, the tension roll 22 assumes its normal position, seen in Fig.1.

Special attention is directed to some of the novel features of myinvention.

The journal of the first ironing roll 12 is I adjustable at right anglesto the direction tire surface of the collar is simultaneously ironed.

Each set of ironing rolls which-cooperate with the cylinder 44 isyieldingly mounted, it being seen that any desired tenslon may be placedon the post 64 which carries the outer ironing rolls .72, 65 and 81 of aset.

The ironing rolls 72 and 81 are each provided with an adjustable tensiondev ce whereby any desired tension may be mamtained on said rolls withrespect to the cylinder 44. A tension of anydesired degree is alsomaintained on the ironing rolls 6 5. By such construction, a uniformtens1on is maintained on all the ironing rolls whlchcooperate with themain cylinder or ironing drum, so that during the ironing opere atlon, auniform pressure. is placed on the collars and the rolls-areautomatically adjusted so that a two ply collar and a collar of agreater number of plies are lroned with an equal degree of successwithout necessitating any adjustment of the parts.

The collar is fed in a flat condition later-' ally or in parallelismwith the axes of the ironing drum and wholly exposed and uncovered: llhedirection of the feeding movement is continuously forward and notreciprocating and both surfaces of the collars are ironed in a sin lepassage through the machine, thereby ena ling one to obtain a greatereconomy in both time and labofand a greatlyimproved result. a .i

In the machines of this general character as hereto-fore constructed,the natural spring inherent to'a collar hasbeen destroyed, since ifsufiicient pressure was placed on the small rolls to produce the properactionon the portion of the collar of uniform thickness, too

quent ironing is necessary great a pressurewas placed on the collars atthe seams where the collar is of increased thickness and the surface ofthe collar was not uniformly polished. In prior machines due to thefacts that the axes of the small rolls were at too great a distanceapart and the variation in the thickness of padding on the rolls, it wasimpossible to feed the collars through the machine in parallelism withtheaxis of the'ironing rolls. In accordance with my present invention,the axes of .the small rolls are brought close enough together to causetheirtperipheral portions to engage the collars when fed transverselyand cause them to travel through the machine;

In so far as I am aware, I am the first in theart to feed a collartransversely instead of longitudinally in this mannerfwitho-ut clampingit to the feed apron and covering so that a subsefor such coveredportions after the collar is removed from the machine, and it is to beunderstood that up portions of the collar,

' my claims to such features are to be inter preted with correspondingscope. I

If the axes of the rolls of each set are not sufliciently close to eachother, a collar will" not feed up the high side of the drum and as thecollar passed beneath the rolls of the last set of rolls, itwould slidedownwardly "on the drum and stick to the collar in ad- Vance ofit, sothat the collars would notbe properly ironed It will be evident that vin the broad and -gener1c scope of my invention, the collars passthrough the machine with their longitudinal axes s\1bstantially inparallelism with the ironing rolls, and means are provided to effectthecyc'lical operation of the ironing mechanism and the parts.cotSpera-ting' therewith.

It,will now be apparent that I have devised a novel and useful ironing"machine,

which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in thestatement'of the invention and the above description, and awhile I have,in the present instance, shown and described a preferred embodimenttheresmaller rolls and is nasaaso of which will give in practicesatisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that the sameis susceptible of modification in various particulars without departingfrom the spirit or scope of the invention or sacrificing any of itsadvantages.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire "tosecure by-Letters Patent, is: Y

'1. An ironing machine comprising an ironing drum, a plurality of rollsopposed to the periphery of the drum, one of said rolls being movablerelative to the other, yielding means for holding s pressure against theperiphery of the drum, and other yielding meansfor holding saidrelatively-movable roll under pressure against the periphery of thedrum.

2. 'An ironing machine comprising an ironing drum, a set of three rollsopposed to the periphery of the drum; the outer of said rolls beingmovable relative to the intermediate roll, yielding means for holdingsaid rolls under pressure against the periphery of the drum, and otheryielding means for holding the outer and relativelymovable rolls underpressure against riphery of the drum. n

In an ironing machine, an ironing drum, sets of rolls mounted inproximity to said drum, each set including stems, tenslon devices forthe stems, a roll journaled in the stems, rolls pivotally carried bysaid stems and tension devices to move the pivotally mounted rollstoward said drum, 'in combination with means to revolve the rolls anddrum, and means to feed articles to be ironed to the drum and rolls.

4. In an ironing machine, mounted roll, an ironing roll mounted inproximity to said yieldingly mountedfroll, means to revolve said rolls,mechanism to feed articles to be ironed to said rolls, means to efi'ectthe axial displacement of-said rolls to vary the effective ironingareaof the ironing roll. L v

5. In an ironing machine, the combinationof an ironing drum, aroll oposed to the periphery thereof, an ironing ro l spaced from thefirst-named ironing roll, means for supporting the 'ight of a feed apronat a point adjace t to the periphery of the firstnamed ironing roll;said means being arranged in a horizontal plane intersecting thesecond-named roll, a roll opposed to the secend-named ironing roll andarranged as a a yieldingly aid rolls underv the peinc and

center thereof, with reference to. the sai bight-support, means back .named ironing roll and the roll opposed thereto for-supporting a feedapron, and the of the second said feed apron passed around thebightsupport and the last-named means and between the second-named ironingroll and the roll opposed thereto. a I c 6. In an ironing machine, thecombination of a frame, an ironing roll mounted 1n the frame, a rollopposedto the ironing roll,

drum-to which the article is fed by said apron and adapted to iron theother side of I rods carrying the second-named roll and guided in theframe and having sockets, rods disposed in said sockets and havingshoulders, springs surrounding said rods and interposed betweenthe-shoulders thereof and the first-named rods, and a shaft mounted inthe frame and having cams opposed to the second-named rods and alsohaving a handle. i

7. In an ironing machine, intergeared rolls, one of which serves, as anironing roll to iron one s1de of an artlcle to be ironed, a feed apronpassing between said rolls to support said article, driving meansforfone of said rolls, means to eifect the axial displacement of saidrolls'to vary the effective ironing area of the ironing roll, an ironingthe article, outer,-rolls'yieldingly mounted relative to said'drum, andmeans to revolve said drum and outer rolls.

8. An ironin machine, comprising in combination, a eed apron,,a rollpivoted to move in a lateral plane andengaging the rolls mounted in saidjournal brackets, re

silient means to move said rolls toward said drum, and means'to actuatesaid ironing drum. a

' 10. In an ironing machine, an ironing drum, a plurality of stemsyieldingly mount- 'ed about the periphery of the drum, rolls journaledin the stems, journal brackets mo'vably carried by the stems, rollsmounted in said journal brackets on opposite sides of said stem rolls,and springs between said stems and journal brackets.

11. In an ironing machine, the combination of an ironing drum,radially-movable stems having recesses, a roll mounted in said stems andopposed to the periphery of the. vdrum, means for yieldingly pressingthe stemstoward the center of the drum, brackets pivoted to the stemsand having recesses opposite those of the stems, springs disposed insaid opposed recesses, a roll mounted in said brackets, and means forlimiting the movements of -the brackets relative'to the stems.

12. In an ironing machine, housing, an

ironing roll mounted therein, sleeves carried by said housing, a stem insaid sleeve, a tension device for said stem, means to vary the tensionof said tension device, a. roll journaled in said stem, journal bracketspivotally mounted on opposite sides of said stem, rolls mountedgin saidjournal brackets, said stem and brackets having alined recesses, springsin said recesses to efiect rela-' tive movement of the bracketsand stemand to move the rolls in the journal brackets toward the ironing drum,means to --vary the action "of said spring, means to limit the relativemovement of said stem and brackets, and means to rotate said ironingdrum.

.13. An ironing machine comprising, sets of rolls arranged 1n agenerally circular which is opposed to said rolls, means for adjustingthe drum toward and from the rolls, yielding means complementary to eachset of rolls forholding the same under pressure against the periphery ofthe drum, and other yielding means complementary to each set of rollsfor holding the relatively-movable roll of the set under pressureagainst the periphery of the drum.

14. An ironing machine comprising in combination a feed apron, a rollaround which the apron passes, a roll engaging the apron and movablelaterally, and means on the first-named roll actuatable by the apronwhen the latter gets out of alinement and connected with thesecond-named roll to move the roll and restore the apron to alinementthrough the medium of said roll.

15. An ironing machine, comprising an ironing drum, sets of rollsopposed to the periphery of the drum and arranged in spaced relation andsufficiently close together to enable the peripheral surfaces of tworolls to simultaneously engage a transversely fed collar; one roll ineach set be ing movable relative to an adjacent roll thereof, yieldingmeans complementary to each set of 'rolls for holding the same underpressure against the periphery of the drum, other yielding meanscomplementary to each set of rolls for holding the relatively movableroll of the set under pressure against the periphery of the drum, andmeans for feeding a collar to said rolls and drum in a fiat and whollyuncovered condition and in parallelism with their axes.

16. An ironing machine, comprising an ironing drum, sets of rollsopposed to the periphery of the drum and arranged in spaced 'relationand sufficiently close together to enable the peripheral surfaces of tworolls to simultaneously engage a transverselfv fed'collar; each set ofrolls including three rolls and the outer of said rolls roll, yieldingmeans complementary to each set of rolls for holding the same under in aflat and wholly uncovered condition.

and in parallelism with their axes.

17. In an ironing machine,the combina tion of an ironing drum, means forholding work to the periphery thereof, an ironing roll arranged parallelto and spaced (from the drum, a roll opposed in parallel relaholding theouter rolls nasaaao r r v tion to the ironing roll and arranged. en.-tirely at the opposite side of the vertical axis thereof, with referenceto the drum,

and ya suitably supported feed apron having a stretch disposed betweenthe ironing roll and the roll parallel thereto and also having a portionextending to the drum and terminating in a horizontal plane intersectingthe said ironingrollr r rso r. LLEY.

Witnesses".

E. HAYWARD FAmJBANKs, H. S. FAIRBANKS.

